Digital signage that keeps playing when the Wi-Fi drops
NeutroTV puts menu boards, price signs and weekly promos on any TV with a small Raspberry Pi player. Everything is cached on the box, so a flaky store network never blanks a screen. Manage every location from one web dashboard.
Built for grocery and independent retail. Runs on Raspberry Pi hardware you own; the service is operated by NeutroTV in the cloud.
How it works
- Plug in the player. A Raspberry Pi with the NeutroTV image connects to the TV over HDMI. Join its setup hotspot from your phone to give it the store Wi-Fi.
- Pair it with a QR code. The TV shows a six-character code; scan it, name the screen ("Deli Counter", "Entrance TV") and it appears on your dashboard.
- Make signs and schedule them. Upload pictures, videos or PDFs, or fill in a template with your prices. Put a group of signs on a screen for the hours you choose.
- It just keeps running. Online players pick up changes within about 30 seconds. Offline players keep playing from their own copy until the network returns.
What you get
Survives bad Wi-Fi
Every sign and the schedule live on the player's SD card. Time blocks switch on time with no network, and the box reconnects and re-syncs on its own.
Fail-safe updates
System updates go to a second partition, boot once as a trial and must pass a health check before they are kept. A bad update rolls itself back.
Sign templates
Type the words and prices into a template that already carries your logo and colours. Or upload images, videos and PDFs.
Weekly schedule
Groups of signs play in a loop; time blocks put a group on a screen for chosen days and hours. Later blocks win when two overlap, so an override is one click.
Live widgets
Google Calendar "Up Next", current weather for your location, and U.S. National Weather Service (NOAA) alerts for your area.
Screen health
Each screen reports a live picture and Wi-Fi signal while online. The dashboard tells you within minutes if a screen goes quiet, and can email you.
Proof of play
Players log what actually displayed. Filter by date, screen or sign and export CSV.
API and webhooks
Scoped API keys, a JSON REST API, signed webhooks and an emergency-broadcast endpoint for your own systems.
Built for grocery and independent stores
Back-of-house Wi-Fi in a grocery store is hostile: compressors, metal shelving and coolers between the router and the deli TV. Most signage players go blank or show a "no connection" message the moment that link drops. NeutroTV was designed around the assumption that the link will drop — the player is a self-contained box that happens to accept updates when it can.
- Weekly promo cycles: change a group of signs once and every store on that schedule updates.
- Multi-location: one dashboard, every screen, per-screen health at a glance.
- Store-manager friendly: a "Put something on a screen" button, plain-language status, and one email address to call.
- Installer friendly: a hardware checklist covering TV overscan, power and sleep settings ships with every pilot.
Frequently asked questions
- What is NeutroTV?
- NeutroTV is a cloud-managed digital signage service. You upload signs (images, videos, PDFs or filled-in templates), group them into loops and schedule them onto screens from a web dashboard at app.neutrotv.com. Each screen is driven by a small Raspberry Pi player box plugged into the TV's HDMI port.
- What happens to my screens when the store Wi-Fi goes down?
- They keep playing. Every sign and the current schedule are stored on the player's own SD card, and the player evaluates the schedule locally in your store's time zone, so time blocks keep switching on time with no network. When the connection comes back the player reconnects on its own, downloads anything that changed and reports online again. No reboot is needed.
- What hardware do I need?
- A Raspberry Pi (Zero 2 W, 3B+, 4 or 5) flashed with the NeutroTV player image, its official power supply, an HDMI cable and any TV or monitor with an HDMI input. NeutroTV does not run on smart-TV apps, BrightSign, Android or Windows players.
- How do I connect a player to Wi-Fi?
- On first boot the player shows a "WiFi Setup" screen and opens a temporary setup hotspot named NeutroTV-Setup. Join it from a phone, scan the QR code on the TV, pick your store network from the list and enter the password. The saved network survives reboots and software updates. A 2.4 GHz network is required.
- How do I pair a player with my account?
- After Wi-Fi is set up the TV shows a six-character pairing code and a QR code. Scanning it opens app.neutrotv.com/activate with the code filled in; give the screen a name and it appears on your dashboard within seconds. A replaced SD card re-pairs to the same screen automatically and keeps its schedule.
- How quickly do changes reach the screen?
- An online player checks for schedule changes every 30 seconds and applies them atomically: new files are downloaded first, then the new schedule is switched on, so a screen never shows a half-updated loop.
Ready to see it on your own TV?
Tell us how many screens and locations you have and we will get back to you with a quote and a pilot plan.